'We need to grow our own rather than importing skilled labour from abroad'
"Recently I held my first debate in Westminster Hall – and I chose to focus on skills," says Antonia Bance MP.
"Here in the Black Country we have a proud industrial heritage. But as a country we should be ashamed that we import bricklayers, welders and other skilled trades from abroad rather than growing our own. We have to get more skilled manufacturing and construction jobs for local people – and that means getting the right training sorted.
"What we need is to start from what our economy needs, fits the training to that, and delivers more workers with higher skills ready for better jobs with higher wages. Our new skills system has to look at the shortage jobs – and rather than issuing more visas for skilled migrant workers, train British workers to do those jobs.
"The Conservatives oversaw a decade of decline in skills, and it’s made communities like ours in the Black Country poorer. Across our area and around the UK, employers are unable to fill job vacancies - with over a third of vacancies being due to skills shortages.
"An example of this is the shortage of lab technicians within our growing life sciences sector. The government should make sure that courses for lab technicians run, are funded and are filled. And that will mean young people get a path into a job that is higher wage, higher skill and meets what employers need.
"It’s clear we need an overhaul of our skills system, to make British industry thrive again and bring wealth back to our communities. And that’s what the new Labour government is going to do.
"I will keep pushing this with ministers to make sure we have a skills system that delivers for us, so we can put the Black Country back where it belongs – as the beating heart of Britain’s industry."
Submitted by Matthew Bingham
